January 22, 2013, EDMONTON – Calgary Dinos basketball forward Jessica Franz and Manitoba volleyball right side Dane Pischke are Canada West Athletes of the Week.

FEMALE: #3 Jessica Franz, Calgary (basketball)

Fifth-year Jessica Franz helped the Calgary Dinos take down the No. 1 Fraser Valley Cascades on Friday night, handing them their third loss of the season. The forward recorded a game-high 23 points on the night and posted nine rebounds, and played 39 minutes in a big win for the Dinos.

On Saturday, the Surrey native recorded a double-double in Calgary’s second win of the weekend, this time over the Trinity Western Spartans. Franz scored 16 points and posted another 16 rebounds.

The two wins on the weekend give Calgary the best record in Canada West, tied with divisional rivals, Regina. Both teams hold a 12-2 record with just eight games left to play in the regular season.

The CIS #10-ranked Dinos are on the road to play the 5-10 Winnipeg Wesmen on Thursday and Friday.

MALE: #5 Dane Pischke, Manitoba (volleyball)

Manitoba Bisons men’s volleyball right side and co-captain Dane Pischke had a spectacular weekend as the #6 Bisons captured an important road weekend sweep of the #3 Trinity Western Spartans on Jan. 18 – 19. Pischke was a major contributor in the Bisons battling back in both matches to win in five sets, registering 34 kills, 37 digs, five blocks, three assists, one service ace and 37.5 total points while starting all 10 sets.

The Bisons overcame a two set deficit to win 3-2 (26-28, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-11) on Friday and in the come-from-behind result, Pischke posted a game-high 20 kills (.333 hitting percentage) with 17 digs plus two assists, two total blocks, one service ace and team-high 22.0 points.

In the second match, Manitoba won again 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13) on Saturday, with the fifth year veteran continuing his impressive performance. Pischke accumulated 14 kills plus a game-high 20 digs along with three overall blocks, one assist and a team-high 15.5 points.

With the two road victories, Manitoba (10-6) vaults into a four-way tie for third in Canada West and only one win back of second-place TWU.

Pischke is eighth in Canada West kills at 3.39 per set (64 sets/217 kills) and sixth in conference points at 4.08 per set (64 sets/261.0 points).

The next action for the Bison men’s volleyball team (10-6) is hosting Regina (2-14) on January 26-27.

Both matches can be seen live on http://canadawest.TV. Next Athletes of the Week: Tuesday, January 29, 2013

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